During the NBA Finals, Jayson Tatum may be under more pressure than any other member of the Boston Celtics. So far in the series against the Golden State Warriors, the 24-year-old superstar hasn’t been at his best, unable to regularly produce efficient offense at the rate he usually does. With some of the main players of the team missing the finals due to injuries, Tatum is the sole hope for the Celtics and hence, the pressure.
The magnifying glass on Tatum is exponentially larger now with the Celtics playing on the biggest stage the league has to offer. This puts a tremendous amount of weight on his shoulders as he looks to find his scoring touch in time to propel Boston to two more wins and an NBA title.
However, Draymond Green of the Warriors believes Tatum has done a good job at handling everything thrown at him while playing in his first-ever NBA Finals.
“It’s tough. You’re experiencing something for the first time, I think he’s handled it well. He’s maybe not shot the ball as well as he’d like or everyone else would like. But overall, I think he’s been playing well and that’s why it’s a 2-2 series coming back for Game 5. I think he’s handling it all extremely well. He’s taking what the defense gives him, and that’s what great players do. But I think he’s doing a good job.”
Tatum is averaging 22.3 points, 7.8 assists, and 7.0 rebounds through the first four games of the series. However, he is shooting a subpar 34.1 percent from the field on 20.5 attempts per game. Tatum has been under a lot of fire for his poor shooting efforts, particularly after Boston’s Game 4 loss on their own court, but he’s trying to tune out the chatter and concentrate on the big task ahead of him.
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